Qualifier-2 will be played between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans on Thursday in the Indian Premier League. The match will start at 7.30 pm at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The winning team will play the final against Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings on May 28, while the journey of the losing team will end here. Both teams will be face to face for the first time in the playoffs.
After the league stage, Mumbai Indians stood at number-4 in the points table. The team won 8 out of 14 matches and lost 6. Due to which the team got 16 points. The Rohit Sharma-led side qualified for Qualifier-2 after defeating Lucknow Supergiants by 81 runs in the Eliminator. The team has reached the playoffs for the 10th time. The team has played 19 matches so far in the top-4 phase of the tournament. They won 13 and lost only 6.
On the other hand, defending champions Gujarat Titans topped the league stage. The team had 20 points in 14 matches with 10 wins and 4 losses, but in Qualifier-1 the team had to face defeat against Chennai Super Kings. So the team got a second chance to qualify for the finals. Gujarat can get advantage of home ground conditions here. Here the team has played 8 matches so far, out of which it has won 5.
Mumbai Indians are going to play Qualifier-2 for the fourth time in their 10th playoff. Earlier, the team had made it to Qualifier-2 thrice. The team has won 2 matches and lost only one. This defeat also came against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011. Since 2012, the team has played 2 qualifiers and won both. In 2013 the team defeated Rajasthan Royals and in 2017 Kolkata Knight Riders.
This time the two teams will be facing each other for the first time in the playoffs, but till now both the teams have clashed in the league stage of the tournament. Out of which Mumbai has won 2 times and Gujarat once. In this season both the teams played 2 matches, one match each was won by both the teams, but the match played in Ahmedabad was won by Gujarat. Talking about the pitch here, Ahmedabad’s pitch is high scoring, would like to bowl first after winning the toss here. Here fast bowlers get more wickets than spinners.
Teams Probable Playing XI
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Nehal Vadera, Tim David, Chris Jordan, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Karthike and Akash Madhwal.
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper), Vijay Shankar, Dasun Shanaka, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal and Noor Ahmed.
